August 21st.. news of the day...ughh!

I searched through the first section of the Baltimore Sun this morning looking for good news, and guess what... even though I found my efforts extremely depressing.. I actually found three items that made me feel a little better.

1. The market went up.

2. Bill Cosby will receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on October 26th. What a wonderful honor for a great comedian!

3. The Edwardian style ladies' bathroom in the Tremont Grand Hotel (N. Charles St. in downtown Baltimore) has been voted the second-best facility in the America's Best Restroom contest. First place was given to the Shoji Tabuchi men's room in Branson, Missouri. (If you haven't seen this one, guys, you are in for a big pleasant surprize.)

Now for the depressing stuff that I feel I must comment on.

01. The big story: Convicted Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, was given a hero's welcome in Tripoli. Scottish authorities released him after only 8 years of a life sentence, supposedly because he has terminal cancer.

Some people think that he is innocent, but from what I have read, the evidence was strong that he was the guy responsible for the deaths of 270 people.

I'm sure that the grieving relatives are hoping that he will leave this earth soon and spend an eternity in the heat of hell fire. I know that I would be very upset with the Scots at this point.

02. In a welcome to Charm City (Baltimore), a woman suffered a carjacking and had her puppy taken away. At the moment, the car is still missing, but Jojo, her puppy, has been found and returned to her. She had rolled down her window and was asking for directions. People who live in Baltimore know that you can't roll down your window when driving downtown, because even if you don't get carjacked, you still might get your pocketbook or cell phone ripped off by arms that quickly enter through your open window.

03. Recent judgements:

a. A man who killed his girlfriend's dog because she paid more attention to it than to him, received a 3 year sentence.

b. An 18 year old Ocean City lady was sentenced to probation and a $300. fine for "making a statement" by burning an American flag as she walked down the middle of a road.

c. A man was given 6 months in jail for loudly yawning in court.

d. Nothing will be done to a man carrying an AR-15 assault rifle during an anti-Obama rally in Phoenix, Arizona.

e. Nothing will be done to a man wearing a 9mm pistol strapped to his leg at a town hall meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

04. There is a full-page ad by a major bank for an "introductory rate money market savings" rate of 1.50% for high balances. This rate will last through the end of the year. (WOW! Sign me up!.... Give me a break.. I would rather put my spare money... if I had any.. under my matress.) They must expect big things from this ad because it costs a "bundle" for a full-page ad like that.

05. Suspected Taliban militants fired rockets at polling places in Afghanistan to keep voters away. Earlier, they had threatened to cut off the fingers of voters. What a nice group of people.

06. One of my heroes, David Copperfield, the famous magician, is being sued for sexual assault. Say it ain't so, David! And if you get mad at her, please don't saw her in half.

07. The "Cash for Clunkers" program will end next Monday. Look for a big sales weekend. I hope the dealers get their money soon... so far, 1.9 billion dollars has been requested by them from the program.

................................................................

Saturday Musings

Thoughts from an August Saturday in 2009.

01. Justice Sotomayor was sworn in this morning. A big win for Mr. Obama.

02. A New York newspaper headline read: Bill Can Still Get Women!

03. Former Westminster, Maryland mayor, Kevin Dayhoff, has a very interesting piece about President Warren G. Harding, in the Carroll Eagle for Sunday August 9, 2009. I enjoyed the article, but I would have liked to have also read something about the "money pit."

According to some accounts, members of Warren's White House team purchased a DC row house and dug a big hole in the yard. People wanting favors from Washington would stop by the house and drop money into the hole. Of course, that was back in the "old days".. money is now placed in less obvious places, such as refrigerator freezers.

Take a look at Kevin's pieces, you will like them, and I think you can access them at his website: www.westminstermarylandonline.net, or www.explorecarroll.com. I don't think he would mind me mentioning these sites.

04. I've been wondering how Government statistics handle those kids who have been working all Summer, and will now leave to go back to school.

05. DC lawyers are suing to allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons. This may work in Texas, but in DC? One of my uncles carried a concealed weapon in Massachusetts because he had been robbed a couple of times. He told me that he was very glad that he never had to use it. He did practice target shooting.

In my own thinking, carrying a weapon, concealed or not, can cause some macho guys to become more macho and arrogant. However, as I may have mentioned in a blog entry before, I had a run-in with a guy during an accident and was restrained from hitting him by a State Trooper. The Trooper saved my life, because the man I was aiming at carried a shotgun in the cab of his truck, just at arm reach level. Since then, I have been overly polite in driving situations, and have even taken the blame for problems to avoid confrontation.

06. Why are light bulbs in the Florida Edison museum still burning after 80 years, when mine burn out in a few weeks?

07. Good news for texters in Iowa: Now, if you text while driving and have an accident, you can text the accident information to 911 by texting, rather than by telephone.

08. Some people believe that alien reptiles are ruling our world.. a couple of rulers mentioned as being alien reptiles in disguise are Queen Elizabeth and George W. Bush.

09. Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me (WWDTM) suggests a "cash for chunkers" program. Set a goal for yourself to love weight and get paid if you reach it. I wonder if they could detect people who use liposuction.

10. WWDTM reports that the most hated word in English is "moist" .. apparently there are Facebook sites for people who don't like it. I wonder why? I like that "oi" sound... I especially think that the phrase ""Oy Weh!" is a perfect way to comment on bodily aches and pains.. and when one hears a particular lousy joke, "OY!" seems to me to be a very appropriate response.

11. Hurry and sign up for the caravan leaving for the Gobi Desert to track down the elusive acid-spitting Mongolian worm.

12. The word "caravan" reminds me of an Arab saying that is appropriate for the current situation of rude hecklers at Town Meetings.. "The dogs bark, but the caravan travels on." That could also pertain to the negative activity following the Sotomayor nomination.

13. WWDTM also reports that a thong tied to many helium balloons got tangled in electrical lines in England and caused a large power outage. (Larry the Cable Guy calls thongs worn by women: Hiney Floss.)

14. Vladimir Putin continues to be a daredevil and exert his manhood. Recently he dove one mile down in a submersible to the bottom of Lake Baikal. Hey, that is a long way down. I wonder what he did about the "bends"? Now.. think about that, and also think about the fact that Russian atomic subs have been spotted patroling the Atlantic near the US. What is going on? Where is Jules Verne when we need him??

15. Finally... The two Austrian towns that bear names that are naughty words in English have decided not to change their names, even though they hate all those crazy "Englishers" coming to town to have their pictures taken under town signs.

..................................

The 100th Blog.. actually.

This is actually my 100th blog entry. Four of them were duds, so even though it says 104, it really is 100. And there is something magical about the 100th blog. Google suddenly thinks that now the blog is serious. So I guess I have to be serious today.

Earlier tonight, I heard Elaine remarking about the letters to the editor for a couple of the latest Carroll County Times (Westminster, Maryland). She couldn't believe that the newspaper would print some of these letters. I read the letters and agreed with her. It must have been a slow day for letters.

However, we did think that not everything on the "Opinion" pages was like the letters. So, if you don't mind, I will comment on everything that is printed there, and you can decide if you like any of the material.

For August 4th, 2009:

01. The editor remarked that according to a recent poll, two-thirds of Americans don't know what the three branches of Government are. This is a startling statistic. Don't all American children learn about the three branches in school? New citizens all know that. Most foreigners know that.

I would have thought that only the college kids on the Leno Show didn't know that.

The editor does see a change in the statistic, at least in Carroll County, because of a recent increase in Town Meetings.

02. Some people don't believe that Global Warming is happening, so Tom Harbold, a columnist, asks some excellent penetrating questions about it.

a. Why has the Northwest Passage opened for the first time since the Vikings?
b. Why has the polar ice cap shrunk by 2 million square miles?
c. Why are Alpine nations having to spread reflective sheeting on their ski slopes to limit snow melt.
d. Why have glaciers in Glacier National Park dropped from 150 in 1850 to 26 now?

Something seems to be happening, guys.

03. A letter writer is mad that President Obama apologized for some dumb things the U.S. has done in the past. He accuses the President of bringing Socialism to the U.S. (It sounds to me as though he has no idea even what Socialism is.) He hopes that the President is voted out of office. (Wouldn't it be better to hope that the President succeeds in office? Why all this negativity? I'm sure it is not a racial thing.. at least I hope not.)

04. A letter writer is mad because the President was never a governor or an executive.. and never served in the House of Representatives or served in the military. (Perhaps the writer should read his history about other Presidents.) However, he does say that we should all pray for the President. I'm not sure, but I think he also doesn't like homosexuals.. but he has read something called the "Gay Manifesto".. I've never heard of it. Sounds like a phony document.

05. Another letter writer feels that America, like Nineveh, has severely violated God's law. Abortion, sexual immorality, same-sex marriage, sinful behavior being taught in school, violence in the streets... all of these things would normally cause God to destroy us.. but maybe, if we play our cards right, we will be redeemed by faith.

For August 5th, 2009:

01. Tom Zirpoli, columnist, feels that Americans should be watching the upcoming Afghan election because the outcome will have a significant impact on American foreign policy in the region. This is a well thought-out piece of analysis in my opinion. (The last election had a turnout similar to that of the U. S.; however, U.S. voters did not have to worry about bombs along the way to the polls like the Afghan people did. Think about that!)

02. The editor of the paper wrote that "Cash for Clunkers" money should be increased, and lambasts the Republicans who are fighting it. He takes a great chance of subscription cancelations in this Republican County. We'll see.

03. A letter writer laments the fact that Insurance Companies are using scare tactics to fight against Health Care Reform. He makes the main good points: "We are the only industrialized country in the world that doesn't have universal health care," and "there are...47 million Americans who have no insurance at all because they can't afford it."

04. Another letter writer was grossed out by the anti-abortion protesters who were showing giant colored posters of aborted fetuses on the sides of Route 27. She did not feel good that her child had seen the pictures.

05. There was agreat cartoon of an elderly couple at a dating service. The wife is saying to the receptionist: "I'd like to trade him in under the "cash for clunkers" program.

There... we've got it all out of our systems.